This year's ICM congress was held in Prague from the 1 to 5 June. The Congress programme was themed around the role of midwives in improving women’s health globally. More than 4000 midwives attended the congress from all over the world. This provided a fantastic opportunity for sharing information and experiences in all aspects of midwifery care, learning about new developments in midwifery research, education and practice as well as networking with experts internationally.

The plenary sessions delivered by leading figures, such as the president of ICM, Frances Day-Stirk and the Director of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (Her Excellency Toyin Saraki), highlighted the evidence on how midwives have been instrumental in saving lives, improving health of women and in reducing global maternal mortality. They also emphasised the importance of understanding the new ICM competencies for midwifery education in training autonomous practitioners, being able to understand research and evidence from sources such as Cochrane, and act as an agent for change in bridging the gap to improve care and outcomes for women and their families. The role of midwives as the main point of contact for pregnant women, public health promotion and promoting partnership working was repeatedly emphasised throughout the congress.

The Maternal and Infant Health Research Group (MIHRG) members had a visible presence in this year's congress presenting an oral paper at each day of the 4-day congress from four different projects (1-4). Although extremely busy and very difficult to choose which concurrent session to attend as well as having other activities such as chairing sessions and attending meetings with international research and development partners, this was an extremely satisfying and empowering experience. As the Chair of the Networking group for the ICM-Research Standing Committee (RSC), Professor Hora Soltani also reported the preliminary results from a recent ICM-funded project which is aimed to explore the midwifery research priorities and to inform the ICM global research agenda (5).

This highly inspiring, educational and spiritually uplifting event was an opportunity to meet our international partners, co-members of international organisations and editorial boards with whom we have been working but have never met before. This also showcased our collaborative projects with local Trusts (Sheffield, Doncaster and Barnsley), and other SHU colleges (Sheffield Business School, Public Health Nutrition, Social Sciences and Humanities, Health Psychology) at a large international platform. We acknowledged support from sources such as Tommy's, CLAHRC SY and Doncaster NHS who funded these projects. A great level of interest was expressed by the audience in possible collaborations and in adapting or implementing the presented evidence.

A full list of abstracts for all presentations is available on CD, if anybody is interested please let Hora Soltani know via email h.soltani@shu.ac.uk

Professor Hora Soltani
Professor of Maternal and Infant Health
Centre for Health and Social Care Research

List of collaborative presentations

1. Hora Soltani, Frankie Fair, Alex Scott, Alison Brodrick and Helen Baston. Midwifery led care evidence implementation: a service development showcase
2. Bernadette Hardware, Dawn Johnson (Barnsley NHS), Lindsey Reece and Hora Soltani. An evaluation of the impact of a weight management programme for obese pregnant women, delivered in an antenatal healthcare setting
3. Rachel Rundle, Hora Soltani, Alex Scott. Dietary habits and nutritional supplementation from the perspective of pregnant teens and their health care providers: an exploratory study
4. Talking health during pregnancy – opening the conversation on public health issues. Carrie Wardle, Susan Hampshaw, Penny Furness, Maddy Arden, Alex Duxbury and Hora Soltani
5. Hora Soltani, Alex Duxbury, Lisa Kane Low and Kerri Schilling. A global survey to explore midwives research priorities-preliminary report to the International Confederation of Midwives Research Standing Committee